Some Canadian farmers using helicopters to plant

FFCROPS

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - It's wet north of the border, too - so wet that some producers there are using helicopters in planting.

Canadian farmers are struggling with excess moisture and delayed planting, just like their counterparts in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.

As of early May, Canadian farmers had planted "virtually nothing," said James Loewen, grain manager with Bunge Canada in Altona, Manitoba.

Normally, farmers on the Canadian prairie have planted about 10 percent of their acres by early May, said Bruce Burnett, director of weather and market analysis for the Canadian Wheat Board in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This year, planting has been limited to a small number of acres conducive to early planting, he said.

Advertisement

The slow start isn't surprising, given moisture conditions going into the spring.

"We knew we wouldn't be planting early," Burnett said.

But rains and a late-season blizzard in parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have put planting even further behind, he said.

Canadian farmers and their U.S. counterparts grow many of the same crops, including durum, flax and canola. What happens in Canada can have a big impact on the price of some crops grown by U.S. farmers. Last spring, for instance, U.S. flax prices shot higher after heavy May rains in Canada prevented many flax fields from being planted.

With the planting pace already two to three weeks behind normal, some farmers north of the border could end up switching to crops that can be planted safely a bit later. Weather conditions the next few weeks will determine whether that happens, officials say.

Statistics Canada, after interviewing farmers in March, predicted late last month that Canadian producers will plant a lot of wheat and canola. The agency pegged 2011 canola acres at 19.2 million, up from 16.8 million a year ago, and wheat at 24.7 million acres, up from 21.1 million last year.

Some farmers are looking for innovative ways to plant, including using helicopters instead of tractors.

Provincial Helicopters Ltd. of Luc du Bonnet, Manitoba, is working with farmers to plant canola this spring, said John Gibson, the company's president and chief pilot. Canola doesn't need to be planted as deeply as some other crops, so seeding canola from a helicopter is relatively feasible. The company first planted canola from a helicopter as an experiment five years ago, he said.

Provincial Helicopters provides a wide range of aerial services, including fighting forest fires and airlifting construction equipment. The company has been looking for ways to expand the use of helicopters in agriculture.

To plant canola, the company uses a specially designed planter originally developed for reforestation. The system utilizes a rotary distributor that propels seed downward to the field. The helicopter flies 10 feet off the ground at 60 mph, with each pass covering a 50-foot swath. Roughly 2.2 acres per minute are planted.

The company charges $14 per acre to seed by helicopter.

"It's not cheap," in part because of the cost of transporting the helicopter to the planting job, Gibson said.